


Walk With Me

by Northern_Lady



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Bullies, Child Neglect, Defensive Magic, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Mild Language, Mutants, Neighbors, Protectiveness, Verbal Abuse, adoptive father-daughter relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-28 14:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19396432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Wong needed a sandwich and Stephen went to get it for him not knowing he would find a friend along the way. If Tony Stark can have a ward (Peter Parker) then so can Strange,





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has an alternate orgin story for Talia Wagner to the one in the comics. In this reality she does not have her father's blue coloring but looks a bit more like her mother. 
> 
> Anyway, I thought it was time that like Tony Stark, Doctor Strange has a "ward" of his own. Probably will become fluffy.

Doctor Stephen Strange didn’t often pay much attention to whatever petty crimes or injustices might be happening in his neighborhood. His duty was to guard the Sanctum. He was not Peter Parker and did not consider himself a hero in that sense. Whatever happened on the streets could be handled by the police or the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen or Spiderman. It was nothing to him. At least that’s what he told himself most days until he saw something one day on a return trip from the corner deli with sandwiches that made him stop just long enough to allow him to question his stance of non-involvement. 

In the distance ahead were a group of school children of perhaps eleven or twelve years of age. Perhaps had he not been nearly a block from home and the kids been in his path he might have not even taken the time to notice them. Five young students, two girls and three boys had surrounded an individual girl. 

“Freak!” One of the kids shouted at the frightened red haired girl and shoved her backwards. She fell back and was shoved forward by the bully behind her. 

Another of the bullies grabbed her hair and pulled it aside to reveal pointed ears. “Look at her ears! She’s not human!” 

“Stop…” the girl tried to say but was clearly too frightened and humiliated to really try and defend herself. “I am human. I just have a mutation.” 

“She’s lying!” One of the girls spoke up. “She’s some kind of alien. Like Thanos. We don’t want you here!” 

“I’m not alien. I’m not! Just let me go home. I wasn’t bothering you…” 

“If you’re not alien then why do you wear those stupid mittens when it isn’t winter?” One of the boys demanded. 

“And why do you have a tail?” The other girl said. “I saw it under the bathroom stall. A long pointed tail and it’s blue. Disgusting.” 

At that, two of the boys grabbed her, one around the waist and another took one of her arms while the others tore off her purple knitted mittens to reveal that she had just three fingers.

“Oh my god! Only three fingers!” One of them called out. “Let’s see the tail!” 

Stephen could not allow this to continue any longer. “Hey!” he called out to the group of school kids, having nearly reached them. 

The kids ignored him, too invested in their plans to even hear him. The mutant let out a scream and to everyone’s shock a bolt of fiery energy shot out of her hands and blasted away her captors, knocking them back and singing their clothes. The girl got to her feet and faced her bullies rather than run while they were down. A couple of the kids looked a little afraid of what had just occurred. The other three looked angry and were ready to renew the fight in earnest. Fists clenched they approached her. 

“That’s enough!” Stephen stepped in between the group of kids to stand next to the mutant girl. “Go home or wherever it is you’re supposed to be. There’s no reason to beat anyone up just for being different.” 

The kids took a step back but hesitated to obey him. Stephen raised his hands and made magic shields just to show them that he too was different. At that, they took off towards home. Stephen put away his shields and turned to the mutant school girl who was watching him with awe. 

“You okay?” he asked. 

She nodded. “Thank you.” She bent down and picked up one of her purple mittens from off of the sidewalk and began frantically looking around for the other one. 

“I think one of those kids took it with them,” he told her, not seeing the missing item anywhere. 

“Shit…” she muttered. 

Stephen gave her a disapproving look. “How old are you?” 

“Eleven. There’s no point in telling me I shouldn’t swear. I shouldn’t have three fingers or pointed ears or a tail either and I can’t help any of that. People are fucked up and I’m not gonna stop swearing.” 

“Point taken,” he conceded. She had enough mature issues to deal with. It wasn’t really any of his business anyway. None of this was. He had only intervened to keep an innocent kid from being hurt. Now that it was done he would be on his way. 

“Wait…” she called after him as he began to head towards home. “Are you going past 172?” 

“Yeah, that’s almost across the street from me. I live at 177.” he said, knowing that she was likely worried those kids would come back. She didn’t want to walk alone. “So I do happen to be going the same way. What’s your name kid?” 

“Talia. Talia Wagner.” 

“Doctor Strange,” he said in reply. 

Talia gave him a look as if that were the stupidest name she had ever heard. 

“Stephen,” he told her. “Stephen Strange.” 

“Are you a real doctor?” she asked as she walked with him. 

“I am but I don’t really practice medicine anymore.” 

“And that thing you did, the energy shields? Was that magic or a mutation?” Talia asked him, curious. 

“More like magic. It’s called the mystic arts. I take it your fiery defense was a result of your mutation?” 

“I guess. I only ever did it one other time,” she said slowing down before they reached a small sidestreet. “Evan lives down there. Sometimes he waits by the corner throws rotten eggs on me on my way by.” 

“He won’t today,” Stephen told her. They passed the street and Evan was waiting for her as she expected. Stephen made a shield and blocked the egg from hitting her as they passed. Evan, wide eyed and frightened took off running. 

Talia smiled a little at the sight and then looked up at Stephen with a look of thankfulness. He hadn’t set out to be this kid’s hero but apparently that was what was happening. 

“Don’t get used to it,” he said. “Just cause I live on your street doesn’t mean…” 

“Doesn’t mean you’ll help me the next time?” she asked, clearly knowing the answer to the question. 

“Where are your parents? Why aren’t they walking you home from school?” he asked with frustration. 

“I don’t have real parents,” she said sadly. 

“What does that mean? Your parents aren’t imaginary. Everyone had parents sometime or other.” 

She shook her head. “I lived a lab in Sokovia until I was six. My birth mother was a surrogate. My DNA came from a woman named Wanda Maximof and a man named Kurt Wagner. I went from the lab to a SHIELD facility and Mr Fury brought me here to live with Rita. She’s not my mom, just a guardian and I don’t think she likes me very much but she does what Mr Fury tells her to do, which was to feed me and stuff.” 

“Why would Fury bring you here?” Strange mused aloud. 

“He said that my biological father wanted to be a priest, that faith was very important to him. So Fury sent me to the Catholic school, Our Lady of Pompeii, and he said he would try to find my father. Fury never came back though. That’s all I know.” 

“I’m not sure that makes a lot of sense,” Stephen said. “That’s 172 ahead.” 

She nodded. She reached the crosswalk and stopped, glancing back at him. “Do you always go to the deli this time of day?” 

Stephen almost told her that he really only went once or twice a week but realized right away that she wasn’t asking out of mere curiosity. “Most days or I go for pizza. I go to the bakery for breakfast. What time do you walk to school?” 

“You don’t have to go when I go. I’ll be okay,” she said. 

“Fair enough, but if you need help with those bullies again, I live just over there.” 

Talia took one step into the crosswalk and then backtracked. “I walk at 7:30,” she said. “If it’s not too much trouble?” 

“It’s not,” he said honestly. “It’s no trouble at all.”


	2. Chapter 2

As promised, Stephen met Talia when she left her apartment building at 7:30 AM the following day. He noticed her smell right away as they began walking. It didn’t fit in at all with her neatly pressed blue plaid school uniform. 

“I take it Rita is a heavy smoker?” Stephen said, annoyed at the prospect. 

“Yeah,” Talia said sadly. “Rita and her boyfriend Joe both are. I hate the smell too.” 

“It’s not the smell, it’s the fact that secondhand smoke isn’t good for your health,” he explained. 

She shrugged. “I probably have a healing mutation anyway.” 

“That doesn’t make it right.” 

Talia gave him a look of annoyance. “If you want to be mad at Joe and Rita I can think of a lot worse things they’ve done than smoking.” 

“Such as?” Stephen asked, unsure he even wanted to know. “Have they hurt you?” 

“No. Not like that. They don’t hit me. They just tell me they hate me and that I’m fucking stupid and they don’t let me have the good food if my grades aren’t good enough,” she told him. “I can always have ramen noodles or cold cereal but hardly anything else unless they are feeling generous. It’s not like I starve though.” 

Only ramen and cold cereal? That was hardly enough for an eleven year old to be eating without being malnourished. He definitely did not like this Rita woman or her boyfriend. 

“You eat decent lunches at school though?” he asked hopefully. 

“Yeah. I guess. Doesn’t help much in the summer or on weekends.” 

“I imagine not,” Stephen agreed, internally planning to do some investigating on this Rita and Joe find out if Talia was telling the whole story and what might need to be done to help her. “I had an idea for the weekends,” he told her. “I think your powers might me more magic than mutation. I met people who knew Wanda Maximof. I never met her myself but I know her powers were magic. Maybe I can help you learn to defend yourself a little better.” 

“You would do that?” she asked, wide eyed. 

“Yeah, if Rita will let you out of the house Saturday afternoon I will.” 

“I doubt she’ll let me stay. According to her, the less time I spend in that apartment the better.” 

Over the course of the week Stephen learned bits and pieces about Talia’s life. It became clear that she was severely neglected by her guardian and probably verbally abused. Her life in the Sokovian laboratory until age six had been surprisingly stable from what little she could remember of it. She’d had a nurse caregiver during that time, an older woman who had been kind to her and even loved her. He imagined that it was only because someone had genuinely cared for her during her formative years that Talia was as well adjusted as she seemed to be. Granted, the girl had problems. She was anxious and on edge much of the time and equally angry at other times. She used language not appropriate for an eleven year old fairly often and admitted that she didn’t really have any friends and claimed she didn’t want any friends. Friends were stupid. 

Stephen also noticed that first week that the roots of Talia’s hair were blue. Evidently, she had dyed her natural blue hair to red as another means to try and seem more normal. As it was she kept her hair down covering her pointed ears at all times and kept her tail carefully tucked out of sight. He caught a glimpse of it only once and that was on Saturday when she visited his house to practice defensive magic while Wong was away shopping. He told her a little about how he came to learn the mystic arts that day and made sure she had a decent lunch while she was there. She was in awe of his house and the many books and artifacts and seemed sad to go home after a few hours. In truth, the last thing he wanted to do was to send her back to a place like that. 

One morning during his second week of walking her to school she came out of her apartment with tears on her face. 

“You okay?” Stephen asked her. 

She nodded but didn’t give a reply or explanation. 

“I can see you’ve been crying, Talia. I know something happened,” he prompted. 

“Rita won’t buy my hair dye,” she said, her jaw trembling either from anger or from worry or maybe both. “I dye the roots like every week and it’s all gone now and she’s says I’m an ungrateful bitch and can’t have any more. Well she’s wrong. She’s the bitch.” 

With a sigh Stephen stopped walking. “Don’t worry about the dye. I know a spell…” he said and with a wave of his hands he performed it. He took his cellphone from his pocket and flipped the camera mode so she could look at herself. 

“You fixed it,” she said with amazement. 

“It was no trouble. It was a very simple spell.” 

Talia shook her head. “It wasn’t simple. Nothing is simple. It doesn’t make any sense!” 

“What doesn’t make sense? I can teach you the spell if you want to learn…” 

“No...I just don’t understand why you’re being nice to me. You don’t have to be. Even if you are one of those people who just wants to do good in the world, you’re already doing that guarding the Sanctum. There’s no reason to walk me to school or teach me magic. There’s no reason to be nice to a stupid mutant freak!”

“Talia…” Stephen rested a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not stupid and you’re not a freak.”

She gave him that look again, the one that indicated he’d said something dumb. She pulled back her hair into a messy ponytail and let out her tail. “Watch! Watch how long it takes them to notice the freak!” 

There were plenty of people on the crowded streets passing by in both directions. Sure enough they soon were making a wider path around her, some staring and whispering on their way past. Talia stood tall and in her anger pretended it didn’t bother her, the reaction of the people around them. After half a minute the pressure from the passing stares and words began to get to her and she began to deflate into tears, regretting letting people see her even just to prove a point. 

“Talia…” he said to her gently. “You are not a freak. The problem isn’t you. It’s them. They are wrong to treat you differently than any other eleven year old girl.” He looked around at the people passing by. “You hear that? Keep walking and mind your own damn business!” he shouted at the crowd. He looked back to Talia. “It’s not complicated. I help you because I like you. Nothing more. You’re a good kid Talia. You deserve better than Rita and Joe and better than what these judgemental assholes have to offer. Is that so hard to understand?” 

She bit her lip, jaw trembling. “I’ll try,” she said. 

“That’s a good start then,” Stephen agreed, he put his arm around her shoulders for the rest of the walk to school.


	3. Chapter 3

“Where are you going?” Wong asked just before Stephen could go out the door. 

“Out. Why does it matter?” 

“Because you’ve been going out at 7:20 every morning for two weeks and never return with breakfast,” Wong said. 

“There’s cereal in the kitchen if you want breakfast,” Stephen said headed for the door. 

“I thought you might have a date but not this early in the morning and not for two weeks in a row…” Wong mused aloud. 

“I don’t have a date. I just have something I need to go do.” 

“I thought we agreed that neither of us would wander off alone. If you leave and I need assistance guarding the sanctum, how will I reach you if I don’t know where you are?” 

“Pick up a phone Wong. I always carry one,” he said annoyed. 

Stephen reached for the door and as he opened it he found Talia was standing on his steps reaching up to knock. Her clothes were torn and there were tears on her face. 

“What happened?” Stephen asked immediately. 

“They wanted to see my tail…” she sniffled. 

He glanced at his watch wondering if it was even 7:30 yet and why she was out yet before then. He could have helped her if she had waited for him. 

“Joe got mad at me because I ate the last of the cereal and I left early cause I don’t like him any better than he likes me,” she answered his unspoken question. 

“Then why didn’t you come straight here?” He asked her, frustrated. 

His question only served to upset her further, “I didn’t know I could do that.” 

“I told you that if you needed help that I live just across the street and all you have to do is ask,” he reminded her.

“I thought it was too early to bother you,” she argued, crossing her arms across herself as if to try and hold in her frustration and anguish. 

“Talia, it’s never too early or too late,” he said more gently, then realized that something didn’t add up about her story. “But that’s not the reason you didn’t come here. Those school kids didn’t all leave home early so they could attack you at the same time on the same day. Bullies don’t plan things out like that. Something else happened and you couldn’t get here…” 

Tallia bit her lip, making every effort to keep from having an actual meltdown. 

“What happened?” Stephen asked, truly concerned about what she wasn’t telling hm. “We have a few minutes, why don’t you come inside and we can sort this out?” He stepped aside from the open doorway and she came in as bidden but still didn’t speak. “Talia?” He prompted. 

“It was Joe. He said he’d kill me if I told. He wanted a blood sample. He knows who my biological parents are and he said my paternal grandmother had healing abilities, if I have certain genetic markers, my blood is worth a lot to him. I woke up to him trying to take my blood with a syringe. I tried to fight him but...he got it anyways…” she sobbed, clearly shaken up by the whole ordeal. 

“He’s not taking any more of your blood and he’s not gonna kill you. I won’t allow it!” Stephen said firmly, finding himself more angry than he had been in a long time. 

Talia let out a sob at his words and she threw her arms around him tightly. Stephen went ahead and hugged the weeping girl in return. It occurred to him that she probably never had the opportunity to hug anyone very often. She didn’t have anyone in her life who even cared about her and spent a great deal of time feeling alone or afraid. 

“Hey… it’s okay,” he said, resting his hand on top of her head. 

“So this is where you have been going?” Wong said, watching them. “You didn’t have to keep it secret. I already knew you had a heart even if you pretend you don’t.” 

Stephen ignored Wong’s proclamation and for just a moment held onto Talia a little tighter. Then he took a step back and let her go. In spite of her reluctance, she let him go. 

“Your clothes are torn. You can’t go to school like that and I don’t think you should go today anyway. This is what we’re going to do. You’re gonna stay here with Wong for a little while and I am going across the street to talk to Rita and Joe.” 

“Wait…” Talia called after him before he could go. “I think Joe has powers of some sort. Be careful.” 

“I will,” he told her, touched by the fact that she was worried for him. 

Stephen crossed the street and entered the apartment entrance of the building which was a separate entrance from the storefront on the first floor. He went up to the third floor and found the apartment number Talia had told him was hers. A slightly overweight man answered the door. 

“What do you want?” Joe said. 

The apartment reeked of the smell of cigarettes and a hint of beer. Rita stood over a stove cooking scrambled eggs. She was a woman of perhaps fifty years of age, thin, with frizzy hair pulled into a ponytail and the attitude of a New Yorker who was not to be trifled with. 

“You must be Joe and Rita. I’m Stephen. Talia is across the street at my house right now. I came because she’s pretty shaken up after what happened here this morning. If you want me to leave peacefully you’re gonna give me two things. You’re gonna fill a box with Talia’s things and I’ll need Nick Fury’s phone number.” 

“Say what, now?” Rita spun to face him. 

“You heard me.” 

“I ain’t giving that girl over to the likes of you,” Rita argued. “She’s worth too much.” 

“How much does Fury pay you to take care of her?” 

“It ain’t about the money…” Rita protested. 

“I suppose it isn’t about genetic markers either?” He looked to Joe with his question.

“Look, the German guy on the phone said they wouldn’t need that much blood if she does have the markers,” Joe countered. “Just a couple vials a day. It’s not like I hurt her.” 

“We ain’t hurt that girl a day in our lives,” Rita continued. “She gets food and clothes and goes to a fancy school and even has a TV in her room. We treat her good. You need to go home and stop putting your nose where it don’t belong.” 

“I’m not going anywhere until you give me what I asked for. Fury’s number and a box of Talia’s things.” 

“Are you planning to keep her?” Rita asked, suddenly concerned. “We’ll report a kidnapping.” 

“Does she even belong to you? I’m betting that she is officially in SHIELDs custody. Once they find out you tried to sell her blood probably to Hydra, they won’t let you keep her or your freedom anymore. You’ll probably want to leave this city after you give me what I asked for.” 

Ten minutes later Stephen reentered his house with a box and a single phone number on business card with the SHIELD logo. Talia sat playing a game of checkers with Wong. Her hair was up in a ponytail and not hiding her pointed ears. She wore no mittens and her tail was free and not tucked beneath her clothes. She looked more relaxed than he had ever seen her in the two weeks he had known her. 

Stephen set the box on a nearby table and left the room to make his phone call. It rang three times. 

“Doctor Strange, I wondered when I would hear from you,” Fury said on the other end. 

Stephen didn’t let it surprise him that Fury knew who he was or recognized his number. “I called to talk about Talia Wagner.” 

“Well that was not what I expected this call would be about,” Fury said. 

“What did you think it would be about?” 

“Skrulls. Don’t ask. That conversation will be for another time. So what is this about Talia Wagner?” 

“She can’t stay with Rita anymore. I don’t know what you were thinking placing her with Rita in the first place but she’s out of the question now because I am pretty sure her boyfriend has been in contact with Hydra,” Stephen have an angry explanation. 

“What I was thinking isn’t really any of your damn business but I’ll tell you anyway. Rita is an inhuman who can create impenetrable force shields and make herself and anything she touches invisible. There are several interested parties looking for that little girl and I placed her with someone who was capable of keeping her safe. Looks like Rita betrayed me. I try but I don’t always get everything perfect. I take it you have an interest in looking out for Talia yourself?” 

“Apparently I do,” Stephen said honestly. “Unless her biological parents have any interest in her.” 

“Her biological parents don’t know she exists. She was created from their DNA without their consent and both of them have weird magical like abilities that makes it difficult to track them down if they don’t want to be found. I imagine Talia has some magic or mutant powers of her own. You might be just the right guardian for her, Strange.” Fury said. “You got a fax machine?” 

“What? Yeah, I have one from when I was a surgeon,” he replied a little confused. 

“Okay, I am sending over some paperwork today for Talia to make this thing legal. In the meantime if you meet any Skrulls you give me a call back,” Nick ended the call. 

If Stephen had any doubts about having Talia stay with him long term, Fury apparently didn’t care to hear them. He could call him back he supposed but he didn’t really want to. He would rather take care of Talia himself and be sure it was done right rather than get Fury to send her elsewhere to be cared for. Stephen went back to the room where Talia and Wong were still playing their game. 

“I just talked to Fury,” Stephen said, leaning against the door frame. “He says Talia can stay here. He’s working on arranging it if that’s good with everyone.” 

Talia went still at his words. She sat gazing at the checkerboard her eyes welling up with tears. 

“You want me to stay?” She found her voice enough to ask. 

“I for one think it is a good idea,” Wong spoke up. 

“Yes, we want you to stay,” Stephen replied. 

“For how long?” She asked worriedly. 

“For good. This can be your home if you want it to be.” He could hardly believe he was even saying any such thing but Fury had kinda committed him to it whether he was ready for it or not and he couldn’t abandon her now. 

Talia seemed unable to speak. She looked back and forth between Wong and Stephen three times before she finally found the words to speak. “I do want it to be, if you really mean it anyways.” 

“I really mean it,” he assured her. “You can stay.” 

Talia got to her feet and for the second time that day she hugged him. This time he held on to her for as long as she needed him. It was several minutes before Talia herself let go.

“No school for you today. We need to get you settled in and possibly do some shopping,” Stephen said. “But don’t count on that sort of thing happening very often.” 

“I won’t she said,” smiling one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen on her. 

“Is there anything in particular you need or want to shop for?” he asked. 

“I don’t care much. Just no ramen noodles. Not ever.” 

“Okay, we’ll stay far away from ramen noodles. I’m gonna go check the fax machine and then we’ll head out,” Stephen said and went to the machine to retrieve the papers that were about to change his entire life and change it for the better.


	4. Chapter 4

Late that evening Stephen and Wong sat looking over the stack of papers that Fury had faxed to them. Talia was asleep in her new bedroom and it was the first moment available for Stephen to look over the papers. The top of the stack had contained adoption papers which Stephen had signed and faxed back to Fury. The rest contained information on Talia’s history and files on the people who had taken a dangerous interest in her abilities. 

“Do you think we should try to contact Wanda and tell her about this?” Wong asked as they shuffled through the papers. “Banner might know where she is.” 

“He probably does, and I bet Fury knows that too.” 

“You think Fury is keeping Talia from her biological parents for a reason?” 

“I don’t know,” Stephen said. He took out his cell phone. “You have Bruce’s number?” 

Wong reached over and entered the numbers in Stephen’s phone. 

“Hi Bruce, this is Stephen Strange…no everything is fine. We’re good here….we were wondering if you happened to know how to reach Wanda Maximoff?...she doesn’t? Look this is important. How far from New York are you right now?.... okay, see you in an hour.” 

“He is coming here?” Wong asked. 

“Yeah, he says Wanda doesn’t want to be found. We gotta tell him about Talia and maybe he can get her the message.” 

“If we are having guests, I need to vacuum.” Wong hurried out of the room. 

An hour later Bruce showed up and joined them in their living room, looking uncomfortable in his large green form due to all the breakable items in proximity. Wong offered tea and cookies which Bruce accepted. 

“So what is it you need Wanda for? I’m thinking it must be something mystical. Anything I can help with?” 

“It’s not what you think,” Stephen began. “Couple weeks back I met this kid named Talia here on Bleecker Street. She has some mutations and magical abilities. I got hold of Nick Fury. Turns out there is a reason for Talia’s uniqueness. She was born of a surrogate mother in Sokovia and her mother’s genetic material, her mother’s eggs actually, were taken from Strucker’s lab.” 

“Wanda has a kid?” Bruce said, a little stunned. 

“Yeah and I think she should know. There’s no hurry to reach her. I already adopted Talia because she was in a situation that someone needed to take care of her but I still think Wanda should know and if we can find Talia’s father then he should know too.” 

“Well all I have for Wanda is an address. I got it from her months ago and I don’t even know if she is still there,” Bruce said. “She did tell me only to contact her in an extreme emergency. She wanted time to recover and to mourn.”

“She knows you. If I portal you there would you talk to her?” Strange asked. 

“And tell her she has a kid she didn’t know about? I...I don’t know that I am comfortable with that.” 

“Better to hear it from a friend though than from me.” 

“Yeah...I guess. What time is it in Edinburgh right now?” 

“Very early in the morning,” Strange said and got to his feet to make the portal. 

“Now?” Bruce asked as the portal opened up. “Are you coming too?” 

“I will remain here,” Wong said and Stephen stepped through the portal after Bruce. 

The streets of Edinburgh were fairly quiet so early in the morning. Bruce knee the way to Wanda’s adress and led them down several short streets before eventually stopping in front of a door to an apartment building. He entered the building and went up to the second floor. 

“This is it,” Bruce said and he reached to knock on the door. No one answered. He waited half a minute and tried knocking harder. Still no answer. 

Strange lifted his hands and performed a spell to unlock the door. 

“I don’t like this,” Bruce commented before opening the door a crack and calling out. “Wanda?” He opened the door a little further. “This place is empty.” 

The two of them entered the apartment and found it completely empty. No furniture or belongings could be seen anywhere. 

“You’re sure she was here?” Stephen asked. 

“Yeah, she was here four months ago. I don’t have a clue where she is now.” 

“There are spells I can do to look for a trail of where she might have gone but if she’s been gone for months it would be pointless,” Stephen tried the spells anyway. There was a glowing red light in the room that made a path out the door and faded. “Yeah, it’s too late.” 

“Well we can go back to New York and I’ll check in with Bucky and Sam and see if anyone has heard from her.” 

Stephen opened the portal to bring them home. 

He didn’t sleep much the rest of the night. Thoughts of his new responsibilities kept him awake. He had fought Thanos and Dormammu and never really lost much sleep over that. He had performed many surgeries and had even lost a few patients and still managed to sleep well most of the time. Yet somehow the idea of being solely responsible for one mutant child was keeping him awake. He realized that perhaps this very worry was what had pushed him to try and find Wanda. It probably wouldn’t have helped though. Wanda knew about as much about being a parent as he did. She did know more about her own particular magic abilities though and perhaps could help Talia learn about herself. Finding Kurt Wagner might have a similar effect in helping Talia to accept herself. He wasn’t going to give up looking for them. He would just have to try some other method


End file.
